inter-industry model of the U.S. economy, processes a wide variety of macro data and places it in a common format. Data includes the National Income and Product Accounts, balance of payments, flow of funds, monthly employment surveys, CPI, PPI, Business Conditions Indicators, blue pages from the Survey of Current Business, industrial production, the Penn World Tables, and state and local data including employment, earnings, GSP and state personal income. International data from the IMF and World Bank is available, but permission must be obtained from them. One hopes, that with time, this will change. The data is accessed by programs (only for PCs) provided by this project and it can easily be output to ASCII or into a spreadsheet format. The data is also compressed with pkzip, and they provide this and similar programs as well. For introductory information, a brief overview is in "readme.doc", while more detailed information is in "Instruction/contents.doc" and "Instructions/guide.doc". The program that retrieves data (PDG) is relatively straightforward, but let me add my own experiences. First, you may need to change the path to the help files in the "g.cfg" file. Assuming that you're in a directory with one of the unzipped data files, start the program by typing "pdg". Then, a return will allow you to start normally. The command "look" allows one to survey the data in that file (additional commands are found on the bottom of the screen that allow you to print the data to the screen or graph it). One leaves the look command with an escape. To print the data to an external file in columns, use the "matty" command. After typing "matty" and the full file name you choose, you'll be prompted for the series names that can be obtained with "look". Don't separate series names with commas and be sure to end the command with a semicolon. The output of matty lists dates in the first column, but you'll need to modify the fractions used to denote months and quarters. Finally, you can easily plot data to the screen to get an approximate idea of what it looks like. The full 1992 Surveys of Consumer Finances from the Fed is now available in the area data dealing with consumers. It is in a SAS dataset. Be sure to obtain the associated codebook. # http://www.inform.umd.edu:8080/EdRes/Topic/Economics/EconData/ # ftp://info.umd.edu/inforM/EdRes/Topic/Economics/EconData 9.9 Bureau of Labor Statistics (LABSTAT) LABSTAT is a very extensive and detailed dataset. In all, it contains hundreds of thousands of time series. Currently, there are two interfaces to it: the web and a gopher/ftp one. Material is still be added to the web site, but it is much easier for new users. To be specific (and quoting from their documentation), this site's data includes: # Average Price Data # Collective Bargaining-State & Local Gov't # Collective Bargaining-Private Sector # Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers # Consumer Price Index-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers # Employee Benefits Survey # Employment Cost Index # Employment, Hours, & Earnings-National # International Price Index # Special Export Comparison Index # Employment Projections by Industry # Geographic Profile # Occupational Injury & Illness Rates # International Labor Statistics # Local Area Unemployment Statistics # Department Store Inventory Price Index # Major Sector Multifactor Productivity Index # Producer Price Index Revision-Current Series # Producer Price Index Revision-Discontinued Series # Federal Government Productivity Index # Industry Labor Productivity Index # Major Sector Productivity & Costs Index # State & Area Employment, Hours, & Earnings # Occupational Injury and Illness Rates # Producer Price Index # Work Stoppage Data Data on the gopher and ftp sites are organized by the above categories; the web site uses a different organization, but when completed, will have the same material. Data is generally quite disaggregated; overall, there are many megabytes of files. Besides current and historical data, press releases are available as well. As you'd expect, the web site is easier to use. In fact, you can easily select one or more time series, output in different formats, from their vast holdings through a convenient and easy-to-use series of web forms. This forms retrieval mechanism, called "selective access" exists not only for the general holdings, but also for frequently requested series (such as the CPI or the unemployment rate). More experienced users can directly retrieve a series with the BLS series id. The web site also offers news releases and a summary of the current state of the economy. For ftp access, all data is in the "pub" directory, which contains four directories: "doc", "news.release", "special requests," and "time.series". For a short introduction, see the "README" file in the "pub" directory. Information on how the files are stored is located in the "overview.doc" file in the "doc" directory. The "special requests" directory contains either (i) subsets of larger file partitions, or (ii) datasets with alternate partitioning schemes. They are done, as you'd expect, on request. The service is offered at the discretion of the BLS. In general, news releases in directory are quite useful for tracking current events, while the great amount of detail in the actual time series will be quite useful for many researchers. The gopher is organized similarly to the ftp site. # http://stats.bls.gov/blshome.html # gopher://stats.bls.gov:70/1/ # ftp://stats.bls.gov # Information (on Internet access): labstat.helpdesk@bls.gov 9.10 Council of Economic Advisors The Council currently offers three things at their site: working papers, the "Economic Report of the President," and "Economic Indicators." However, the later two are somewhat difficult to use as the only interface to them is via a search engine - you must have some idea of what terms occur in the material you're interested in reading about. # http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/CEA.html * 9.11 1997 Economic Report of the President via GPO Gateway at UCSD * This site offers the 1997 Economic Report of the President. Besides the text, it also includes the statistical tables from the appendixes in text format. # http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/catalog/erp97.html 9.12 Business Cycle Indicators from Media Logic Media Logic sells a Windows program with a variety of U.S. aggregate data (specifically, all 256 series from the BEA's Survey of Current Business), and to demonstrate the program, they have made these series available in both graphical and numerical form. The graphical form is from their program, and the numerical form is in .wks files. Information on their software can be found here as well. # http://www.globalexposure.com/ * 9.13 NBER's Macro-Historical Database This database comes from the NBER's early history. To quote from its introduction: "During the first several decades of its existence, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) assembled an extensive data set that covers all aspects of the pre-WWI and interwar economies, including production, construction, employment, money, prices, asset market transactions, foreign trade, and government activity. Many series are highly disaggregated, and many exist at the monthly or quarterly frequency. The data set has some coverage of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, although it predominantly covers the United States." In all, more than 3,500 series are available. * Data is arranged in about 20 different chapters. It can also be located via a searchable database (even "kitchen sink" returns a response). Micro-TSP's .DB format (which is pure ASCII) is used. This format is also supported directly by RATS and TSP. Paper documentation on this database is available from the NBER. * # http://www.nber.org/databases/macrohistory/contents/index.html * # gopher://www.nber.org:70/77/.macrohist/waistest/index 9.14 Regional Economic Information System This system is sponsored by the University of Virginia's Social Sciences Data Center and Gis Lab. Its very easy to use interface is a true advance. It has a very extensive collection of employment and earnings variables collected by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) from 1969 to 1994 for (i) U.S. regions, (ii) U.S. states and counties, and (iii) U.S. MSAs. In sum, most any regional economist will find it quite useful. # http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/reis/reis1.html # Information: Rick Holt + 9.15 County and City Databooks, Interactive Data Resources, University + of Virginia Social Sciences Data Center + + This service takes data from the 1988 and 1994 County and City + Databooks, and converts the data to a particularly easy to use format. + The data available is extensive and varied; there appear to be well + more than 100 variables and they can be output in a variety of + formats. + + # http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/ccdb/ 9.16 Economic Chart Dispenser This service, offered by Ted Bos, graphs macro data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (they offer a very extensive set of macro data). Thus, it offers a quick method of analyzing macro data. It offers a number of useful options for the graphs. # http://bos.business.uab.edu/charts.htm + 9.17 Economic Time Series Page + + This page, by Ted Bos, is a sort of one stop shop for a variety of + time series data. At this one site, you can find data from Business + Cycle Indicators, the Survey of Current Business, Employment & + Unemployment Data. In addition, on the same page are links to a number + of sites that provide time series data. It is a very useful site for + those looking for time series data. + + # http://bos.business.uab.edu/data/data.htm + 9.18 National Income and Product Accounts, Interactive Data Resources, + University of Virginia Social Sciences Data Center + + This site allows one to graph data from the National Income and + Product Accounts, as well as Personal Income and Outlays, Government + Receipts and Expenditures, Foreign Transactions, Saving and + Investment, Income, Employment, and Product by Industry, Quantity and + Price Indexes, and Supplementary Tables. With each, you can pick a + series and plot the data. + + # http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/nipa/ * 9.19 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System This site offers extensive material about the Federal Reserve (including a listing of its regulations from A to Z), a very extensive list of their books, pamphlets, staff studies, periodic releases, press releases, and miscellaneous publications (with ordering * information). There is a section devoted to the FOMC, which includes * meeting dates, the Beige Book, minutes, and press releases. There are * also speeches and testimony (including Humphrey-Hawkins) and various * reports to Congress. For data, they offer the following statistical releases: # H.3 Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary Base # H.4.1 Factors Affecting Reserve Balances # H.6 Money Stock, Liquid Assets, and Debt Measures # H.8 Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the United States # H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates # H.15 Selected Interest Rates # G.5 Foreign Exchange Rates # G.17 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization # G.19 Consumer Credit # Z.1 Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States # G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates Many of these releases include long historical time series, and some are of high frequency. Finally, they have information on several acts of Congress they enforce. # http://www.bog.frb.fed.us 9.20 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Besides information about the bank, you can read about the definition of bank market definitions in this market, their conferences, summary information on their dollar and manufacturing indices. They also have press releases, speeches, and information on their publications (which includes some abstracts and tables of contents). # http://www.frbatlanta.org/ + 9.21 Federal Reserve Bank of Boston + + This Federal Reserve Bank offers information about itself (including + press releases), material for education and public service, and + information on financial services for consumers. Of particular + interest to economists is the New England Electronic Economic Data + Center (NEEEDc), which is run by Jim Breece of the University of + Maine. The data is published in the "New England Economic Indicators" + and the "New England Banking Trends." It has some 90 variables from + 1969 for all states and some metropolitan areas and GSP data for the + New England area from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Information + about many of their publications, including the "New England Economic + Indicators" is also available. + + # http://www.bos.frb.org/ 9.22 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago This site includes a number of guides to the Chicago Fed, the Fed in general, and financial markets, including many of their publications such as "Agricultural Letter," "Chicago Fed Letter," "Council of Great Lakes Industries Publications," "Economic Perspectives," "FedWire," "News & Views," "On Reserve," and "Profitwise." This material will be of interest to economists, the general public, consumers, and educators who have an interest in the many activities of the Fed. For data, they offer rather extensive interest rate and foreign exchange rate data, much of which is daily and very current. For macro data, they offer a nice selection of commonly used variables in a particularly easy to use format. One looking for long CPI, GDP and similar series would do well to look here. # http://www.frbchi.org/ 9.23 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland This site first offers extensive information about themselves (including contact phone numbers). In addition, they have various public announcements, but likely to be of the most interest are their publications. The first set is about banking with the "Community Reinvestment Forum, "Fourth District Focus: News for Depository Institutions," and "Fourth District Dialogue." Under the heading of Economic Research there is the "Fed in Print" (an index of articles, etc. published by Fed research departments), the "Beige Book," "Economic Commentary," which analyzes recent events, and "Economic Trends" (which examines and plots recent economic statistics). In addition, there are entries for functional areas of the bank: supervision, corporate communications, community reinvestment, and economic research. Finally, they list employment opportunities with the bank, and finally other resources on the Internet. # http://www.clev.frb.org/ 9.24 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas This federal reserve bank offers information about itself and the Federal Reserve System. In addition, they offer many of their publications: Southwest Economy, Financial Industry Issues, Houston Business, Baking and Community Perspectives, and Economic Insights. They also offer summary economic data, their exchange rate measure, (the Trade Weighted Value of the Dollar (TWVD)), and two regional indicators: Texas Industrial Production Index (TIPI), and Texas Index of Leading Indicators (TILI). Finally, they have information on bank supervision, and their Center For Latin American Economics. # http://www.dallasfed.org/ 9.25 Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City This federal reserve bank offers information about itself and the Federal Reserve System. Additional information if offered by functional areas: Economic Research, Bank Supervision, Community Affairs, Financial Services, and Public Affairs. Economic Research offers a wide range of interesting material: full text on-line versions (with Adobe Acrobat pdf) of their Economic Review and Regional Economic Digest as well as their most recent symposium: "Budget Deficits and Debts: Issues and Options." They also offer extensive regional data. # http://www.frbkc.org/ * 9.26 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Woodrow offers information about the Federal Reserve and the economy. They offer offer fairly extensive regional (Ninth District) data: agricultural credit conditions, bank directories, data by industry, economic forecasts, economic summary, manufactured exports, and a poll of business leaders. They also offer Board statistical releases. Additional material is available from their many publications: "Fedgazette," "The Region," their "Annual Report," and "Quarterly Review." In addition, papers from their staff (from the "Quarterly Review," "Staff Reports," "Working Papers," and "Discussion Papers") * are available as well, and you can search them via keyword. A special * interest is the "Economic War Between the States," which deals with * development incentives that states offer on a competitive basis. They also offer the text of publications: Fedgazette, Region, and Annual Report, and extensive educational material. Finally, they have a link to their Research Department, and information about bank supervision and regulation. You can also subscribe to Minneapolis Fed publications. # http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/ 9.27 Federal Reserve Bank of New York Besides offering extensive information on themselves, (including their organizational structure), this site also offers very timely exchange rate and interest rate information. In addition, their press releases cover numerous subjects, and their on-line publications cover a substantial amount of general interest material about the Fed and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the research area, they offer recent papers from their "Economic Policy Review," "Current Issues in Economics and Finance," "Staff Reports," and "Research Papers." They also have the Beige Book. Finally, there is considerable information for consumers on savings bonds and the Treasury Direct Program. # http://www.ny.frb.org/ * 9.28 Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia This site offers regional information, including the Beige Book for the area this Bank covers (the Third Federal Reserve District), abstracts from newsletters and the Business Review, abstracts of working papers by staff economists, their publication "Fed in Print" and the Livingston Survey. * # http://www.phil.frb.org/ + 9.29 Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond + + Besides offering general information (including news releases), this + federal reserve bank also has extensive material on banking for its + member banks, information for consumers (including material on money, + Treasury auctions, and frequently asked questions), and community + affairs. Perhaps of greater interest is the area devoted to monetary + policy, which features conditions in their district, and specifics on + monetary policy, including FOMC minutes, the Discount Rate, various + interest rates, and interest rates. Finally, it also includes the + research department's working paper series and Quarterly Review. + + # http://www.rich.frb.org/ 9.30 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco This site offers information about itself and the Federal Reserve System as a whole. Of particular interest are their research department's publications: Economic Letters (formerly the Weekly Letter), Economic Review, and Western Economic Developments. They also offer a educational material. # http://www.frbsf.org/ * 9.31 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis The major resource of this site is FRED, their publicly accessible database. One component is the most recent Federal Reserve Board Statistical Releases. More important are their data files; they have the following categories: # Daily/Weekly U.S. Financial Data # Monthly Monetary Data # Monthly Interest Rates # Monthly Reserves # Monthly Commercial Banking Data # Quarterly Business/Fiscal Data # Quarterly Gross Domestic Product and Components # Monthly Consumer Price Indexes # Monthly Producer Price Indexes # Monthly Employment and Population Data # Monthly Exchange Rate Data # Monthly Regional Data (for the 8th District) # Divisia Monetary Aggregates # Federal Reserve Board Data on OCD Sweep Account Programs Each category consists of a large number of series (forty is not at all uncommon). Each series is available in an ASCII file, suitable for very easy downloading. Most series are available for long or very long periods (but, the most recent values are quite current). In fact, shorter series with just the most recent data are available for convenience. In addition, compressed files are available with all series in each category. To help users find data, information on all files is available in one summary file. It is an excellent place to go to find current, yet lengthy, macro and financial market data. You will also find information on the St. Louis Fed, the Federal Reserve System, and job offerings at the bank on this server. Articles, data, and programs from the St. Louis Fed "Review" since 1993 are available here. In addition, copies of the "Regional * Economist", "U.S. Financial Data," "National Economic Trends," * "Community Affairs," and "Payments Quarterly" are available as well. Other material from their research department is here too. # http://www.stls.frb.org 9.32 National Economic Research & Data Services (NERDS) This site offers formatted National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA, which includes such variables as GDP), the Fed's Flow of Funds Accounts, their monetary data, input-output data, and regional data. Such formatting makes the data particularly useful in statistical and spreadsheet programs (although some packages might experience some problems importing the material). At this site, you can retrieve the latest data; time series versions are available on disk for a fee. Additional datasets are planned for the future. They also offer economic analysis and forecasting services. These cover the gamut from regional development to national forecasting. They also offer their own program for these services. Numerous examples are offered on-line. # http://www.econ-line.com/ 10 OTHER U.S. DATA + 10.1 FEDSTATS + + This site, run by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical + Policy, lists detailed information from 70 different federal statistical + agencies. Besides information on this site, you can search for statistical + information several different ways -- these include via a search engine + (with data from these agencies), a listing of data via programs (including, + of course, economic ones), and a general listing of data from A to Z. + The site also lists contacts at the various agencies, and you can both list + and search for press releases. + + # http://www.bea.doc.gov/ + 10.2 The Federal Web Locator + + This material is collected by the Villanova Center for Information Law + and Policy. It lists federal departments, agencies, offices, boards, + commissions, corporations, and even federally related sites in several + different formats. + + # http://www.law.vill.edu/fed-agency/ + 10.3 Joint Economic Committee + + This committee is one of only four joint committees in the U.S. + Congress. While it could be argued that the material does carry some + biases, it does provide a valuable viewpoint. There are a large number + of press releases and a smaller number of policy papers. + + # http://www.house.gov/jec/welcome.htm 10.4 National Archives Center for Electronic Records The National Archives has a branch devoted to the storage of electronic records from many federal entities. Of interest to economists are records from the Bureaus of the Census, Economic Analysis, and Labor Statistics, the Civil Aeronautics Board, Department of Transportation, IRS, SEC, and Social Security Administration. While the records are not available over the Internet (at least not yet), detailed information about them, including a listing of "data files" and ordering information for the data files (generally available only on 9-track tape reels or 3480 tape cartridges) are available. Currently, some 8,000 data files out of more than 18,000 available are listed in a rapidly growing list. Some of the data files are old, while some are relatively recent. Some entities have only a small selection of data, while for others, the listings are more complete. Unfortunately, the tapes are relatively expensive at either $80.75 or $90.00 (depending upon the medium), with additional tapes at $24.50. One can hope that a less expensive on-line database is not too far in the future. Since a comprehensive list of files here is impossible, the interested researcher should examine them. Much more information about this service can be found in the directory listed below. # ftp://ftp.cu.nih.gov/NARA_ELECTRONIC (press the return key for the password) 10.5 Social Security Administration (OSS-IS) This site offers a variety of material. Besides extensive information for beneficiaries, there is substantial statistical material, basically annual and current operating tables. Since these tables are in different formats, be sure to read the appropriate descriptions of them. For ftp access, see the file "pub/statistics/README.FIRST". For gopher access, in the "K-Statistical Data and Abstracts" directory, read the file "A-ORS Master Index (Please Read First)". # http://www.ssa.gov/ # gopher://gopher.ssa.gov # ftp://ftp.ssa.gov # Information: Bruce Carter 10.6 Missouri State Census Data Center - Summary U.S. Census Info At first glance, one would think that this site would be Missouri specific, but they have taken data from the 1990 U.S. Census and made it available. Specifically, they have "organized the 100 most frequently used social and economic variables from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, Summary Tape File 3 into a set of 14 descriptive tables in Lotus 123 format (ver.2)" and ASCII. Data is available for metro areas, places (which covers a very large number of communities), all counties, and states. # http://www.oseda.missouri.edu/usinfo.html 10.7 U.S. Census Bureau This entry has once again been entirely rewritten and reorganized. New and or changed material from the last issue is thus not marked. The Census offers a great wealth of data. It is tempting, and in fact accurate to say, that if you think it is produced by the Census, check here - you're likely to find it. The material is a mix of general interest material (I've even used some for my principles classes) and highly detailed information. The "News" category includes press releases and tipsheets, the current economic indicators and statistical briefs, and various other items of interest. The "Search" category includes many different ways of searching this site. This even including a map, from which you can choose the geographical area you're interested in, and then view summary information about that area. You can proceed to the country level, and it provides a wealth of interesting and easy to find information. "Access Tools" includes software that works over the net, such as "DataMap" (which profiles information from states and counties), "1990 Census Lookup" (you can extract files from that Census), a gazetteer for the U.S., the Tiger map system for generating maps on the fly, and links to three systems for extracting data: "Census CD-ROM's at University of California," "FERRET" (Federal Electronic Research and Review Tool) for extracting data (currently, only from the Current Population Survey), and the "Data Extraction System," which extracts data from a number of different datasets (including the Current Population Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, American Housing Survey, and others). This section also includes software you can download, and Census access tools at other sites. The "Market Place" section lists different products you can buy from Census, such as tapes, CD-ROMS, diskettes, etc. You can even purchase all documents generated by Census after January, 1996 in electronic form. Most material is in the section titled "Subjects A-Z" (only 5 letters have no entry). The entries are # A: Advisory Committees, Aging, Agriculture, Apportionment, and Assets. # B: Birthplace, Births, Building Permits, and Business - General - Totals by County - Owners - Databases - Customized Tabulations. # C: Census: - 1990 - 2000, Census & You, CenStats, Child Care, Children, Citizenship, City/County Governments (Large), College Enrollment, Communications, Commodity Flows, Companies, Computer Ownership and Use, Commuting, Construction, Contacts at the Census Bureau, Continuous Measurement, County Business Patterns, County & City Data Book, County Profiles, Crops, and Current Industrial Reports. # D: Data Capture, Imaging for Census 2000, Data Extraction System, Deaths, Demographic Business Characteristics, Divorces, Decennial Census - 1990 - 2000, and Durable Goods Orders. # E: Economy, Economic Census, Economic Statistics Briefing Room, Education, Electronic Subscription Service, Employment Opportunities, Employment (Public), Enterprises, Entrepreneurs, Estimates: - Housing Units & Households - Income - Persons - Poverty, Expenditures, Exports, and Extract CD-ROM Software. # F: Families, Farms, Federal Depository Libraries, Federal Expenditures, Federal Government Data, Federal-State Cooperative Program, Federal Statistics Briefing Room, Fertility, Finance, Insurance & Real Estate, Finances of Governments and Schools, Financial report, Foreign Born, and Foreign Trade. # G: Genealogy, Geographic: - Area Profiles - Services & Information, and Governments. # H: Health Insurance, Hispanic Origin, Homeownership, Household Economic Statistics, Households and Families, Housing Statistics, and Housing Starts. # I: Immigration, Imports, Income, Indicators (Economic), Insurance, International Statistics, International Trade, and Irrigation. # J: Journey to Work. # L: Labor Force, Land Ownership, Land in Farms, Language Use, Livestock, and Living Arrangements. # M: Manufacturing, Maps, Marital Status, Market Value of Agricultural Products, Marriage, Metropolitan Areas, Migration, Mining, Minority-Owned Businesses, and Mobility/Movers. # N: National Census Information Centers, and Nativity. # O: Online Roundtables: Provide public commentary, and Other Topics. # P: Place of Birth, Place of Work, Population Topics, Poverty, Press Releases, Previous Residence, Prices and Inflation, Product Profiles, Program Participation, Population: - Estimates - Projections, and Public Finance and Employment. # Q: Quarterly Financial Report. # R: Race: - Minority Business Ownership - Persons, Radio Broadcasts, Real Estate, References, Regional Offices, Economic Research, and Retail. # S: Schools, School Enrollment, School Finances, Service Industries, Small Area Estimates, Small Business, State Data Centers, State Profiles, Statistical Abstract, Statistical Briefs, and Subscription Service, # T: Taxes: - Quarterly Tax Revenues - State Tax Collection, Travel to Work, TIGER, TIGER Mapping Service, Trade Balance, Transportation, and Truck Use. # U: Urban/Rural, and Utilities. # V: Vacancy, and Voting and Registration. # W: Wealth, Wholesal, and Women-Owned Businesses. Finally, several miscellaneous entries provide additional information: "About the Bureau," "User Manual," "New on the Site," "Current Economic Indicators" (with recently reports), and the current U.S. and world populations. # http://www.census.gov # ftp://ftp.census.gov # Information Overview: access@census.gov (no subject or message needed) # Information: pio@census.gov + 10.8 Government Information Sharing Project + + This project, run by Oregon State University, offers a number of very + useful regional demographic and economic databases. They include US + Counties 1996 (with data not only from the Census but other agencies), + the 1990 Census of Population and Housing (again with easily obtained, + well-organized, and detailed data), and Population Estimates by Age, + Sex, and Race: 1990-1994. Other databases include the Equal Employment + Opportunity File (which has "occupation distribution and educational + attainment data by sex, race, and Hispanic origin," the Regional + Economic Information System: 1969-1994 from the BEA, the 1992 Economic + Census (disk 1I (Census of Mineral Industries, Census of Construction + Industries, and Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses) and disk 4 + (Nonemployer Statistics). Finally, other databases include U.S. + Imports/Exports (1991-1995), the Consolidated Federal Funds Report + 1986-1995 (which shows federal spending and obligations on a county + and city basis), and School District Data Book Profiles: 1989-1990. + + # http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/ 10.9 U.S. Department of the Treasury While this site has little economic data, it is a useful overview of the Department, its function, and its leaders. For some, the most useful part might be its collection of IRS forms (you may never have to search or stand in line again). # http://www.ustreas.gov/ 10.10 The Office of the United States Trade Representative This site provides a great deal of information on trade issues. Besides information on itself, this includes press releases, reports, speeches, and testimony. Perhaps even more useful are the NAFTA and GATT trade agreements. # http://www.ustr.gov/ 10.11 United States International Trade Commission (USITC) This site is very useful for the academic and practicing trade economist. It includes: weekly petitions and complaints filed with the agency, a monthly calendar of hearings, deadline dates, and status of investigations, news releases, notices from the Federal Register dealing with the USITC, numerous reports and publications, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, USITC Tariff Database, International Harmonization of Customs Rules of Origin, and a bibliography of trade related law articles. They also have an extensive list of Internet resources by country, industry, and region that many will find useful. # http://www.usitc.gov/ 10.12 USDA Economics and Statistics System (Cornell University) This project is jointly sponsored by the Mann Library at Cornell University and the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It contains more than 250 data sets, and more are due to be added. These data sets cover a very wide range of agricultural topics, and even include international and climate data. They are frequently quite detailed, and are mostly in Lotus 1-2-3 .WK1 format. # http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda # gopher://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu:70/11/ # telnet://usda@usda.mannlib.cornell.edu # ftp://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda # Information: Oya Y. Rieger 10.13 USDA Agriculture Economic Research Service This service is distinct from the USDA Economics and Statistics System at Cornell University. Besides reading about the mission and organization of the service (including email addresses), you can also read their catalog of publications. You can retrieve their data (much of it from the Cornell site). However, they also offer "U.S. State Fact Sheets" and "U.S. County Economic Types" which offer extensive information on agriculture by counties and states. # http://www.econ.ag.gov/ 10.14 National Transportation Statistics This organization, part of the Department of Transportation, generates a variety of statistics on the U.S.'s transportation system. Besides "Transportation Statistics Annual Report," this site includes extensive data (in spreadsheet format) from "National Transportation Statistics." In addition, they have the "FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation" and the "Commodity Flow Survey," a joint project of the DOT and Census which tracks shipments in the U.S. # http://www.bts.gov 10.15 Energy Information Administration (DOE) This agency, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, offers a wide variety of information in this area, broadly defined. Indeed, it is a veritable treasure trove of useful information on nuclear, oil, natural gas, coal, and other forms of energy. If you are looking for information in any way related to energy, this is a fine place to look. # http://www.eia.doe.gov/ + 10.16 Energy Resources Board (DOE) + + The ERB, part of the Department of Energy, is separate from the Energy + Information Administration. According to Henry Weigel, it is + "comprehensive, consolidated, and integrated presentation of the + information from the constituent offices: Energy Efficiency and + Renewable Energy, Energy Information Administration, Energy Research, + Fossil Energy, Nuclear Energy, and Policy." In short, it contains a + variety of useful information for economists interested in information + in this sphere of the economy. + + # http://www.eia.doe.gov/energy/ 10.17 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) This site contains extensive statistical information on the banking system in the U.S., as well as more general information on the FDIC and the banking system, some of which will be of interest to the general public. The latter includes publications from the FDIC's Corporate Library, the Division of Research and Statistics Banking Review, and specific information for consumers. There are also press releases (which are also available via a mailing list; see that section of this guide). There are several types of statistical information. They include "Statistics on Banking," "Historical Statistics on Banking," "Quarterly Banking Profile," and the "FDIC Institution Report." Some of this material is on their gopher, but there are direct links to it from their web site. # http://www.fdic.gov/ # gopher://gopher.fdic.gov # ftp://ftp.fdic.gov 10.18 National Trade Data Bank While probably not of much interest to academic economists, this site pulls together a very wide range of information (more than a gigabyte) from more than 25 U.S. government agencies that will be of interest to firms wishing to export from the U.S. Obviously, it contains a substantial amount of material that may be of interest to those interested in non-U.S. countries. One can even search the entire database with natural language requests. # http://www.stat-usa.gov/BEN/Services/ntdbhome.html 10.19 Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS) To quote from their announcement, "The Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS), created at the Social History Research Laboratory of the University of Minnesota, is now available. The IPUMS consists of 23 samples of the U.S. Census. Together they comprise our richest source of quantitative information on long-term changes in the American population. The IPUMS combines these high-precision samples of the U.S. population into a single database spanning eleven census years from 1850 to 1990. The database includes over 15 million person records (soon to be over 50 million). Most of the census samples have existed for several years, but because the original samples were coded and formatted differently, they have been very difficult to use in combination. The IPUMS assigns uniform codes across census years and integrates the documentation into a coherent form." The 800 page user guide can be downloaded from their site, or you can order it for $30. The actual data is available from their site as well. It varies in size, as you'd expect. The 1850 Census sample (compressed) is 6.9 meg in size, while the 1% 1990 sample (again compressed) is 163 meg in size. A revised version is expected in the Fall of 1996. # http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ipums # Information: ipums@atlas.socsci.umn.edu 10.20 Panel Study on Income Dynamics The data available here is best described by their own documentation. To quote: "The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is a longitudinal survey of a representative sample of U.S. individuals (men, women, and children) and the families in which they reside. It has been ongoing since 1968. Data are collected annually, and the data files contain the full span of information collected over the course of the study. PSID data can be used for cross-sectional, longitudinal and intergenerational analyses, and for studying both individuals and families. The study emphasizes the dynamic aspects of economic and demographic behavior, but it contains a wide range of measures, including sociological and psychological ones. Between 1968 and 1988, the PSID collected information regarding approximately 37,500 individuals and spanning as much as 21 years of their lives." "The general design and core content of the study have remained largely unchanged, and considerable effort has been expended cleaning the data. These two features greatly enhance the PSID's potential for longitudinal analysis. Preparation and distribution of comprehensive documentation and a User Guide also facilitate use of the PSID data." "The study has been conducted at the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan since its beginning in 1968, with the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) data archive handling the public distribution of the data files, documentation, and User Guide. PSID data files have been disseminated widely throughout the United States and to numerous foreign countries." The site has very extensive documentation, extensive introductory material, a newsletter, and lists of the very large number of working papers and publications that use the data (some of this material is in RTF (Rich Text Format), which can be read by Microsoft Word or WordPerfect). Some material is even available in different languages. The entry "PSID Dataset Information" contains the main PSID files. There are individual "family files" from 1968 to 1994, as well as a "24 year individual file." When uncompressed, they become ASCII files, and SAS and SPSS programs are available that will bring the data into those packages. Additional datasets include (i) Marriage and Birth History Supplements, (ii) Parent Health Supplement, (iii) Telephone Health Questionnaire Supplement, and (iv) Self Administered Questionnaire Supplement. # http://www.umich.edu/~psid + 10.21 Study of American Families, 1994 + + This study extends the General Social Survey (GSS) with information on + "the transmission and maintenance of socioeconomic inequality." To + this end, they collected data on "first occupation, GSS respondents' + mother's occupations when respondents were young, and GSS respondents' + first spouses (if married more than once)." Another extension to the + GSS was a short test of cognitive ability. Finally, additional + information was obtained on the respondents' siblings. + + The data is available on-line. + + # http://DPLS.DACC.WISC.EDU/SAF/ + 10.22 General Social Survey + + "The GSS (General Social Survey) is an almost annual "omnibus," + personal interview survey of U.S. households conducted by the National + Opinion Research Center." The first one was run in 1972, and has been + run almost every year since. In total, there have been some 35,000 + respondents answering a very wide variety of questions of interest to + social scientists. Of interest to economists are questions on economic + policy, as well as income received. + + # http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/GSS/ 10.23 Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) This organization offers a substantial amount of social science data in machine readable form to its 370 member colleges and universities. All their data is available on-line, and soon researchers at ICPSR institutions will be able to access it directly. Some data is available to non-ICPSR members. In the section of the archive titled "Economic Behavior, Attitudes" you will find the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Survey of Consumer Finances. Other data of possible interest (in other sections) includes the World Bank's World Tables Of Economic And Social Indicators, 1950-1988; the NBER's Macroeconomic Time Series For The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, And France (which has 1.6 million entries in numerous categories including regional data; most data is from the early part of this century, but a substantial amount is from the 19th century; the most recent is from 1968); and United States Microdata Samples Extract File, 1940-1980: Demographics Of Aging (which is an extract of the Censuses of 1960, 1970, and 1980). In addition, there is a substantial amount of more specialized data of likely interest to economists. For economists, an especially useful collection of data is Class V, which contains data funded by the NSF's Economics Division. This data is in the "Publication-Related Archive" section of the archive. This material is available to all. The Consumer Expenditures Survey and the Current Population Survey are available through their "FastTrack Service" (which makes data available before their usual testing and checking). Information on FastTrack datasets is available from their comprehensive list of resources on their main web page. The data itself is available on their ftp site in the "pub/FastTrack" directory. This material is available to all. To obtain most data from ICPSR, you generally must contact your local representative, assuming that your university or college is a member of the ICPSR. Data is also available to individuals whose institutions are not members of the ICPSR. # http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ # gopher://gopher.icpsr.umich.edu:70/1/ # ftp://ftp.icpsr.umich.edu # Information: ICPSR_Netmail@um.cc.umich.edu 10.24 The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) studies many characteristics of those near or in their retirement years. Specifically, it is a longitudinal national panel study. The baseline consists of interviews in 7,600 households in 1992 (respondents aged from 51 to 61, along with their spouses), with followups every two years for 12 years. The data contains a wealth of economic, demographic and health information, which of course are generally related to retirement issues. The entire dataset, including errata, is available on at this site. The Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) is an HRS Auxiliary Study, and is also known as Aging and Health in America. It centers on "data to address a broad range of scientific questions focused on the interplay of resources and late life health + transitions." It consists of "8,224 respondents aged 70including about 2,560 aged 80 and over." There are followups every two years. Like the HRS, data, including errata, is available on-line. Besides data, this site also offers the latest information related to these projects, material from papers using these datasets, links to related sites, and some useful software. Thomas Juster, of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, is the Principal Investigator for both of these projects. # http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/ 10.25 CRSP Data Access and Analysis This site doesn't offer CRSP data, but it does offer a number of guides and links to using it. The sponsor of this site, Don Cram, has also written a paper on accessing this dataset. # http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~doncram/crsp.html 10.26 Thomas Publishing - FOMC Minutes and Beige Book This company distributes via email the minutes of FOMC meetings, and the Fed's Beige Book Summary, when they become public. The service costs $49 for six months, and $86 for one year (with a subscription, you also receive an overview of the Fed). Most of the buyers are financial market participants. # Information: Jim Thomas <76072.1640@compuserve.com> 11 WORLD AND NON-U.S. DATA 11.1 International Economics Gateway This site, run by Seth Grimes, has a number of links to sites with non-U.S. data. These links are broken up into two classifications: international organizations, and national governments. Note that some of these sites offer very little data. # http://www.access.digex.net/~grimes/gate.html * 11.2 Central Bank Resource Center This site, run by Mark Bernkopf, deals with all aspects of central banking. This includes an extensive list of central banks and ministries of finance. There are numerous other items of interest, including currency boards, conferences in the area, related institutions, and the like. * # http://www.patriot.net/users/bernkopf 11.3 World Economic Window (Bonaparte Inc.) This site offers a variety of economic data for countries around the world. As they offer only graphs of the data, it is probably most appropriate for class and exploratory work. Specifically, they offer data on Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the EU, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the OECD, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While not every country has every series, the series come in the following groups: balance of payments, business surveys, construction, consumer survey, domestic trade, foreign exchange, industrial production, inflation and prices, the labor market, leading indicators, the money market, national accounts, wages, and commodities.